Let's start with this.

There are at least 27 million slaves worldwide. That’s roughly the combined population of Australia and New Zealand. Crikey!

L’immense lègue de Wangari Maathai à l’écologie mondiale et au continent africain

Wangari Maathai, lors de la session inaugurale du Conseil des droits de l'homme de l'ONU, le 19 juin 2006.

REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

Par RFI

Wangari Maathai, militante kényane, s'est éteinte dimanche 25 septembre au soir à l'âge de 71 ans, des suites d'un cancer. Prix Nobel de la paix en 2004 pour son engagement en faveur du développement durable, de la démocratie et de la paix, elle aura passé sa vie à travailler pour l'écologie, laissant derrière elle un héritage immense.

After spending nearly two full days interviewing human rights defenders I have admired for years, I have come away with this observation: These people who dedicate their lives to fight seemingly insurmountable odds share in common a luminous sense of purpose that comes from the surrender of the individual to the collective. This connection with a larger purpose has sustained them through unspeakable hardships most of us cannot imagine. And while most of us may not be cut out for the kind of danger or hardship they face on a daily basis, each and every one of us can offer an act of solidarity that may, at that critical moment, tip the scales in favor of life over death.

Most all government agencies spy on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and so many other online social media sites. If government intelligence agents are not yet one of your social networking friends, they would like to be. But be careful what you post, cause law enforcement is watching, listening, recording, linking, mapping and social engineering. You can be careful, but if a friend of friend comments unwisely, you too might end up with a "borrowed" government issued GPS tracking device spying on you.

There are no simple steps worth caring about. We'll only head off disaster by taking steps -- together -- that are massive, societal and thorough. Most of what needs to be done involves political engagement, systems redesign, and cultural change. It can't be done in an afternoon and then forgotten about.
So screw the little things. Here are 10 big, difficult, world-changing concepts we can get behind.

1. ELIMINATE NUCLEAR WEAPONS
2. STABILIZE THE BOTTOM BILLION
3. CREATE A GLOBALLY TRANSPARENT SOCIETY
4. BE PREPARED, GLOBALLY
5. EMPOWER WOMEN
6. ENABLE A FUTURE FORWARD DIET
7. DOCUMENT ALL LIFE
8. NEGOTIATE AN EFFECTIVE CLIMATE TREATY
9. BUILD BRIGHT GREEN CITIES
10. BUILD NO NEW HIGHWAYS

The Developing Nations license allows, for the first time, any copyright holder in the world to participate first-hand in reforming global information policy. The fact is that most of the world's population is simply priced out of developed nations' publishing output. To authors, that means an untapped readership. To economists, it means "deadweight loss." To human rights advocates and educators, it is a tragedy. The Developing Nations license is designed to address all three concerns.